Durban — The Blitzboks bounced back from their London Series quarter-final loss to Australia by cruising past a tricky Spain team 24-12 in their semi-final for fifth place.
Their first try was a special one as it was the 100th for veteran Branco du Preez in World Series rugby, but it was soon neutralised by Spain, who scored through their resident Fijian.
Spain followed it up with a second score, engineered by a grubber through the defence.
As the clock ticked down to half-time, Blitzbok Mfundo Ndhlovu chased a kick down the touchline, gathered and scored and the missed conversion locked it up at 12-12 at the break.
The Boks struck first blood after the break when a nudge through the defence was picked up neatly by Angelo Davids for a saunter to the posts.
Captain Siviwe Soyiawape completed the scoring as the hooter sounded.
Earlier in the day, the Boks had let themselves down when they followed up three good wins on Saturday by losing the plot in the second half of their quarter-final against the Aussies.
Having led 17-0 just before half-time, the South Africans fell apart in the second half to lose 21-17.
IOL Sport